Sunday, June 21, 2009

18 hours 22 minutes of sun, to be exact

What is remarkable is the fact that that homogeneous blue shade is a picture of yesterday's sky. Straight out of the camera, by the way.

It was bit strange to look up into the sky that was, for half an hour, entirely featureless.

Featureless was not a word to describe our midsummer, however, which we spent right there on our balcony. Midsummer – which is celebrating season here in Sweden at par with Christmas – is usually a time to go out with family and friends to the countryside. Usual activities include dancing around a maypole, eating herring, strawberry shortcake and drinking snaps (the latter two to wash away the herring taste, I guess!) We said no to the offer this year; after all, we haven't really enjoyed the fact that we have a balcony yet. I would also like to be able to read fiction books in my free time again, for a change. What better opportunity to be alone in a quiet city, reading a book and drinking cola under the sun? And yes, there's sun now for a change!

Speaking of sun, it is summer solstice today, which means that we have the longest day and shortest night in the northern hemisphere. Sunrise today was at 03:46 and the sun won't be setting until 22:08 (and even then, it wouldn't get completely dark until midnight, and it's much lighter than you think at 02:30). Lots of time to sit out in the balcony, that is.

It's a good place to observe birds from (I can see their nests, and I observe the same birds on the same branches at the same times of the day). I also like to take our "cat" out to "sit" with us, just for fun. While we don't have real cats yet – besides we'd have to cover our balcony with chicken wire to prevent them from falling off by accident, according to law – Lucy the stuffed cat will have to do.

If you're wondering what I'm doing to the "cat", ask Kricke. He should know.